In August 2008, 18 mountain climbers reached the top of K2. 48 hours later, 11 of them were dead.

While memorials paid tribute to those killed, there were also condemnations about ‘the why.' Why do climbers risk everything to reach a place humans are simply not meant to go?

The Summit is a mystery about one extraordinary man, Ger McDonnell, the first Irishman to summit K2. On the mountain, his team leader left him behind in the death zone and his best friend, Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, searched in vain to find him. Ger’s final moments have been called into question by the last climber who saw him alive, and we know that he was faced with a heart-breaking dilemma—three climbers tangled up in ropes and running out of time. Had Ger McDonnell stuck to the climbers’ code, he might still be alive.

With breathtaking cinematography and jaw dropping reenactments based on the testimony of those who survived the climb, The Summit is about the nature of adventure in the modern world. This particular story remains fiercely debated, at the expense of the memory of Ger McDonnell and the 10 others who died with him. As their legend grows, new climbers are drawn to test themselves against the deadliest mountain on Earth.